


all the time in the world

by pinuspinea



Series: The Librarian [3]
Category: Dracula & Related Fandoms, Dracula - Bram Stoker, The Historian - Elizabeth Kostova
Genre: Character Turned Into Vampire, F/M, Transformation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-04
Updated: 2019-12-04
Packaged: 2021-02-18 12:27:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21660811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinuspinea/pseuds/pinuspinea
Summary: The nights are endless and long when you have all the time in the world.Snapshots of Eszter's un-life after the events of "The Librarian".
Relationships: Dracula/Original Female Character(s)
Series: The Librarian [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1560490
Kudos: 3





	all the time in the world

Getting used to it all takes more time than Eszter thought it would. Some things come easy, like walking with just the help of a cane or having her senses come to life in a whole new manner, but some things are much more difficult. One of those things is trying to crawl into her sarcophagus.

The morning is coming and Eszter knows it in her bones in a manner she has never known it before, but still, she cannot crawl into her sarcophagus. She keeps staring at the rectangular hole where her body is supposed to lie still for how many hours is between dawn and dusk, and she knows Vlad is starting to get annoyed with her.

"It's just a sarcophagus," Matteo says, clearly not caring if Eszter will get into hers before the sun steals her consciousness or not. Eszter bends her neck a little.

"I know," she says and doesn't move. Florence sighs as she settles into her own.

"What is so bad about it?" Florence asks. Vlad is still standing by the door. He seems to be expecting Eszter to try and do something stupid, but she won't do something like that, that she is certain of. No, she just doesn't know how she's supposed to get in the sarcophagus and pretend to fall asleep.

"I don't know," Eszter murmurs. Vlad is holding the only candle. The light would not be enough for her human eyes, but she's changed now, isn't she? Her eyes are much sharper now, see further away. The light of a single flame is enough to show everything in the room.

Eszter lays down a hand on the cool stone. She listens as Matteo stops drawing in breath. Eszter flinches a little at the lack of sound when Florence goes unconscious as well.

Vlad steps closer to her. Eszter is swaying on her feet. She knows she won't stay awake for much longer.

"You may sleep with me today, but tomorrow you'll get to your own sarcophagus," Vlad tells her, harsh but at the same time acknowledging that the change is difficult. Eszter simply nods her head and allows the man to guide her to his coffin. He lifts her up to sit by the side, climbs in, and then pulls her into his lap.

Eszter settles in the nook of his body. One of his hands wraps around her. He isn't breathing, but that is simply to get Eszter used to it. She knows he is still awake. He extinguishes the flame of the candle in between his fingers, and then there is only pitch black.

Eszter closes her eyes and lets herself go away. It feels like no time at all when she opens her eyes again and breathes in again air that does not warm in her lungs.

Vlad feels the movement. His arm eases a little from around her. Eszter sits up slowly.

"Thank you," she whispers to him. He does not answer.

They get back to work. When the next dawn draws close, Eszter takes her old blanket and pillow with her downstairs even though Matteo mocks her for it, and the sarcophagus no longer looks like the unsettling hole it did.

That does not make her entrance any less clumsy. Vlad actually laughs at how she falls in there and Florence covers her face with her hand. Eszter only glances at them and settles her head on the pillow.

It is much easier to close her eyes like that. It just makes it feel like falling asleep instead of what it really is.

* * *

Vienna is the first city Vlad takes her into. Eszter cannot stop herself from looking all around like a tourist. Even during the night there is something enchanting about the city, or perhaps exactly because it is night. The old churches look much more like they belong when they are veiled by the dark. The harsh sunshine cannot wash away their years and reveal their faults like that.

There are crosses on those churches. Eszter glances at one of them and takes a step away out of some ancient reflex. Vlad, who has offered the crook of his arm to her, does not allow her to get away.

"You'll be fine," he murmurs to her in a low voice in her own language. "This far away that should not cause such a reaction."

Eszter nods her head mutely.

The bookseller they visit that evening has held his shop open a little later than usual just for the two of them. He seems a little uncertain about seeing Eszter with Vlad, but brings out the two books they have travelled to see. Vlad studies them for a moment before asking Eszter to come closer with just a look in his eyes. Eszter pulls out a pair of cotton gloves from her pocket and studies the more delicate of the two books.

"This one won't be too bad," she muses. "The covers are quite bad, but inside it's all right."

"We'll take the both, then," Vlad decides in his accented form of German. The shopkeeper smiles at them, though his eyes linger on Eszter.

He packages the books for them carefully. Eszter puts them in her bag that she loops tightly around her body. The bookseller is still looking at her like he wants to ask something.

"It's not polite to stare," Vlad chastises the man. He looks up quickly.

"I apologise, sir," the bookseller mutters. "I was simply curious. Is this the librarian I have heard about?"

Eszter gives Vlad a questioning look. He does not even glance back in her direction.

"Yes," Vlad answers simply. "This is Eszter."

"Pleasure to meet you," Eszter says, though she doesn't hold out her hand for a shake. The bookseller nods and smiles.

"It's nice to see the woman he has spoken so well about," the bookseller tells her. "It's always good to know these books go to appreciating homes."

They don't linger in the shop long after that. Once outside and heading back to the car waiting a few blocks away, Eszter glances at Vlad.

"So, you have talked about me to others, hmm?"

Vlad looks at her.

"I couldn't not mention my librarian, now could I?" he muses. Eszter smiles into her scarf.

She likes Vienna.

* * *

The makeup is Florence's idea, but Eszter is quick to adopt it. The woman teaches her how to add a little colour to her face. The blush makes her just seem pale, not completely pallid, and the lipstick brings much needed colour to her almost blue-tinted lower lip. Eszter looks at herself in the mirror. She looks a lot more like she looked when she was alive.

"Do you think this will be enough to fool humans?" Eszter asks and turns her face. She is still unnaturally pale, but if she covers up most of her skin, she won't draw that much unwanted attention. Florence meets her eyes in the mirror.

"It will at least help you blend in," Florence says. "Now you look a lot more like you used to be."

Eszter nods and instinctively glances at her leg. The brace is gone. Her leg is now strong enough to manage without it, but the cane remains. It helps when she sometimes feels like the leg is going to give out underneath her even though it shouldn't.

Vlad says that perhaps more blood running through her veins would help, but Eszter hasn't asked for that. Even though the thirst nags her almost constantly, she can live with it. In a way, it's better to learn not to be greedy. She will manage with this amount of blood, and thus she will learn to live with the thirst.

Still, every third day she simply needs nourishment, and then they either take her to one of Vlad's hopeful human followers or then Eszter will be allowed to drink from the man himself. At first, she could not understand just why he would allow something like that, and then she would have blushed violently had she still been alive when he looked at her in that manner after pulling her away from Florence and Matteo.

The man is full of surprises, that cannot be denied.

"Let's go show Matteo and Vlad and ask what they think," Florence says. "You look good to my eye, but the world is run by what men deem suitable for consumption."

Eszter is still a little confused about Florence's interest in feminist theory, but she isn't that stupid as to ask questions and provoke another possibly four-hour-long rant from the woman. Matteo still hasn't learned his lesson about that and is constantly forced to listen to whatever the men have done now to further enforce patriarchal roles or something along those lines.

Eszter is fairly sure Florence only goes on those rants because she finds Matteo and Vlad's discomfort about the subject matter so amusing. Vlad shares interest in modern developments and is certainly up for debating almost whatever, and Matteo was raised to respect women. They have not yet dared to properly challenge Florence, but even that is only a question of time.

It's not a challenging task to find Matteo and Vlad as the two have joined forces and seem to be wondering whatever Florence and Eszter are getting into now. Matteo is just starting to rant about Simone de Beauvoir when Florence steps out from in between the shelves pulling on Eszter's hand. The latter comes out when Matteo's jaw snaps closed, and Vlad is just raising his eyes to look at the two.

Vlad stops dead and stares at Eszter. His eyes roam Eszter's face and take in all the minor ways Florence has changed her with makeup. His eyes catalogue the soft blush on her cheeks, the pink lips that look a bit swollen, and Eszter realises the man is most definitely planning to do something devilish to her.

"What has she done to your face now?" Matteo asks in a frown. "You look alive."

There is a slight disgusted note to Matteo's voice, but he freezes up almost immediately after realising just what he said. His eyes dart at Vlad, who is still eating Eszter with his eyes. Eszter is suddenly glad she no longer has a beating hard or the ability to blush, because she would otherwise be completely red down to her chest. Even so, she shifts a little on her feet. Florence is much too smug next to her.

"That is exactly the point, Matteo," Florence exclaims proudly. "Eszter is supposed to look alive. It will be easier for her to walk around the humans if they don't stop to stare at her as much."

"Oh, they will stop to stare," Vlad murmurs. It takes a moment for Eszter to catch on as to whatever the man happens to mean, and she bites her lip. Vlad's eyes darken at that. It seems like he likes her looking like this even more than Eszter could have guessed.

"Stop undressing her with your eyes and tell me what a genius I am," Florence demands from Vlad. The man gives a stern look.

"There is no reason to be crude," he states in an ice-cold voice. Matteo snorts.

"That is my cue to leave before you actually do undress her and I'm forced to see something I can never unsee," Matteo says and slips out before Vlad has the chance to beat impertinence out of the man. Florence joins Matteo in snickering and sneaking away. Vlad decides he has more important things to focus on, as he gets up and gets so close to Eszter that their bodies touch.

"You look like an innocent little thing like this," he breathes before taking her face between his hands. "I would love nothing better than corrupting you."

Eszter swallows thickly.

"I think that can be arranged," she promises when the main door of the library bangs against its frames. Matteo and Florence must be on the other side. Eszter can guess they will not come back to the library before she and Vlad leave the place.

Vlad is most definitely in no hurry to do something like that.

* * *

The last books of Vlad's collection arrived weeks earlier and were shelved the night before. Now that there are no more books to wait for, no more books to catalogue, no more conservation left, Matteo and Florence are without work for the first time in what must be closer to three decades. Eszter walks along the familiar shelves, touches a book here or another one there, and looks at the vast collection she has never witnessed in all its glory. The library is now complete. There are no more book batches, no more collections to be included. Now, there will be only a few books added here and there.

Vlad is off on a trip somewhere. Eszter spies Florence in her familiar nook, gathering her supplies. There is an odd look upon Florence's face.

"I should pack up everything," Florence says. "There's no point to stay here anymore."

Eszter looks at the woman and tries to imagine what it will be like to be in a library where there are no Florence and Matteo, to be alone when Vlad is off somewhere looking for rare books. She wonders if it will be lonely.

"Do you want help?" Eszter asks Florence. The woman glances at her and shakes her head.

"No, I need to do this on my own," Florence tells her. Eszter can understand that, so she wanders outside.

Matteo is sitting on the stone railing between the yard and the tall drop. He has a cigarette in his fingers. He seems to be smoking, though Eszter wonders if it can even affect him in the intended manner.

He does not seem bothered by her presence, not even when she sits down. Matteo flicks ash into the valley below and takes a long drag.

"Never thought I'd be around to see the day the collection was all here," he says. "I thought he'd kill me long before or replace me with someone who's less annoying."

"He sees the value in your work," Eszter says. Matteo snorts.

"And now I no longer have any value," he mutters, a little dejected. Eszter doesn't try and comfort the man. She knows Matteo is upset. He and Florence have both loved being at the library. Leaving the place must feel horrible. Eszter knows she would struggle with something like that. She has no reason to mock them, not when she already knows the longing one can have for the library because of her short stint in Amsterdam.

Matteo lights a new cigarette once the one in his hand has been smoked completely. Eszter decides to leave the man to brood by himself and returns inside.

She doesn't know why she goes to the telephone or picks it up. She doesn't know why she looks at the piece of paper Vlad left a number he would be available from, but Eszter rolls the numbers on the dial disk and then waits patiently.

The phone rings for a long while. Eszter is ready to put the receiver down when there is a click.

"Yes?" Vlad's familiar voice asks.

"The last batch's been sorted," Eszter says in a quiet voice. "It's all done now."

There is a momentary silence.

"Then why would you call me?" Vlad asks her. Eszter bites her lip.

"Matteo and Florence are packing up," she tells the man. He probably knows her well enough to know all the little anxieties associated with that thought. After all, he has seen Eszter's way of adapting to it all. He has seen the illogical things she does because she remembers doing so in her human life. He has seen her rituals, but he does not seem too interested in making her forget them. Instead, he mostly seems amused by them.

Eszter starts wrapping the phone cord around her finger. Vlad sighs.

"Tell them to unpack, then," he says, not too unkindly. "I have found quite a few rare tomes that will need some magic to restore to their former glories."

For a moment, Eszter could swear her long ago stopped heart flutters.

"I'll let them know," she says, a little hope and smile shining through her voice.

She goes back outside first. Matteo is flicking another cigarette into the valley and getting ready to light a new one.

"Vlad says he's found new books for the collection," Eszter tells him. "He wants you and Florence to say. Apparently, they are that bad."

Matteo stares at her, stopped in the middle of movement. The flame is dancing under the unlit cigarette. Eszter snatches it from in between his fingers.

"You know Vlad hates nicotine stains in his books," she chastises the man. Matteo clicks his lighter closed and then puts it back into his front pocket. He gets up and shakes his head.

"Better tell Florence that we've been granted leniency," he mutters sarcastically. Eszter now knows the man well enough to see that he is enthusiastic about the chance that Eszter has managed to ensure for them.

Florence has an actual smile on her lips when Vlad returns even though the books aren't really that bad off. When Eszter smiles at the man, he simply calls the young woman to be by his side.

Vlad wraps an arm around her waist.

"You play unfair," he mutters. Eszter laughs a little.

"I'd get lost and lonely and insane without anyone else," she reminds the man. Vlad sighs.

"I still am not unconvinced something did not go wrong when I gave you this life," he murmurs, so quiet there is no way Florence or Matteo could hear. Eszter lays her head down on his arm and bends her neck. The man kisses her obligingly, not for long, but that tells her she is forgiven.

"They can help," she tells him. "There are still things we could do, like actually recategorize the entire library or fix the archival system."

Vlad shakes his head just the tiniest amount, but Eszter knows the man is not too mad. No, he is too fond of her to be angry about something like this that will eventually just ensure his library is taken care of as well as it should be.

* * *

Years go by fast, but not without notice. Eszter does pay attention to the change of season, but her life finds a new rhythm to follow than that marked by clocks or by the changes of nature. No, her life starts being marked by trips.

The first trips are never long, just a day or two away, always short excursions to the world removed from the library. Vlad takes her to Vienna in the beginning, then there is a trip to Milan, and suddenly he introduces her to old cities of Europe one at a time. The trips always begin and end at the library. There is always some time in between before he shows her another city, but it's more comforting to come back to the library instead of being away for long stretches of time.

Sometimes during their trips, Vlad tells her about all those cities in times gone by. He has memories from a time far longer than Eszter can comprehend, but the way he talks about these cities is remarkable. He has a way with words. The hours of studying rhetoric have not gone to waste.

The first time he takes her to Hungary, Eszter doesn't know what to expect. She keeps glancing around her formed native country, keeps looking at the people and waiting for someone to glance at her face and to recognise her, but of course that does not happen. This is Budapest, not Debrecen, and whoever might have known her once upon a time certainly would not expect to see her face. Eszter even doubts anyone could recognise her, not after all these years. She is older, her face different in small but important ways. Vlad always says death suits her more than the suffering of her human life, but Eszter sometimes glances at a mirror and expects to see her face the way it used to be before.

Budapest is beautiful, the Danube dark during the evening hours. They walk by the river and look at all the lights that shine on the other side of the wide water. Eszter is struck silent by the sight.

This could have been her home once upon a time. Her home is in this same country, just further east. Their house must still exist in Debrecen, the bedroom Eszter slept her childhood in, the university her mother attended and then contributed to, the hospital Eszter spent long years of her life at. All those things must exist still, somewhere further east in a city Eszter hasn't seen in so many years now.

She stops and stares at the water. Vlad is studying her face.

"You're thinking about your life from before, aren't you?" he asks her a little harshly. Eszter nods her head. She feels almost dizzy.

"Tell me how you remember this city," she asks the man. "I need to stop thinking."

They sit down on a bench. Vlad tells her of his time here as a prisoner when he was still living his human life, when he still needed to breathe air. Eszter listens to the man, hears the detachment from those memories from years that have gone away ages ago, and slowly, she calms down again.

Eszter looks at the Danube. The river is still the same river as it was all those years ago, although the water is constantly in movement.

"I wonder if my father is still alive," Eszter says eventually. Vlad holds her hand in his scarred, strong hand.

"Would you like to know?" he asks. Eszter is quiet for a moment, and then shakes her head.

"Better not," she decides. "I'd just start thinking about impossible thoughts again."

He nods his head, understanding what she means without even asking for any clarification. He knows her that well by now. He knows her mind better than she does some days.

They stare at the Danube and Eszter listens to the familiar words spoken all around them, the language she still thinks in, the language that is most comfortable her, but it does not resurface the longing she once had for it or the country.

She belongs to the library now, to the library and all the tongues her books have been written in so many different tongues.

She does not let go of Vlad's hand.

* * *

"Helen is dead."

Eszter raises her eyes at Vlad. He looks at her from the other side of the table. Eszter straightens her back and takes off her cotton gloves. The book in front of her is forgotten for a long moment as she gathers thoughts.

It's quite odd to think about the woman who Eszter never really did get to understand. It's sometimes difficult to think about Amsterdam and how she was at that time. Her memories are starting to fade now that her new life is getting increasingly familiar. Human life feels oddly distant even though it ended such a fleeting time ago when compared to someone like Vlad.

"Should we send flowers for the funeral?" Eszter asks eventually, a little lost. Vlad studies her, clearly fascinated by what he sees.

"The funeral has already been held," he tells. Eszter nods her head.

"You've known for a while that she was dead, then," she deduces. Her lover nods. Eszter is not angry. She knows Vlad still hides things from her, things he believes to be too hard for her to handle on her most difficult days, things he believes may make her change her mind about the whole deal with immortality.

Helen Rossi is dead. Eszter wonders if she should be sadder about it.

"Was it natural or did you have your fingers all over it?" Eszter asks. Vlad raises an eyebrow.

"Such little faith you have."

"I do know you, Vlad."

He smiles at that.

"Cancer," he says. Eszter nods her head.

"Perhaps we'll just send flowers to the grave," Eszter decides. "I don't want Dora or Paul to be too worried about a more direct message. Neither of them has been tempted by the mystery again, have they?"

Vlad shakes his head. Eszter can detect a hint of disappointment in his eyes.

"No, they haven't."

Eszter nods and stares at the book in front of her. Vlad allows her that moment to gather her thoughts about the whole matter.

"Do you still think Dora should be given a book?" she eventually asks. Vlad is quiet for a long moment and seems to ponder on it. Eszter's book with its curled-up dragon is with most of her things in the room she still calls her own, though she no longer sleeps there. Vlad allows her that. It is simpler to have some place that Eszter can disappear into when the weather is bad enough that sitting in the garden means the winds will try to blow her down into the valley.

"Time will show," he eventually decides.

Eszter knows he still wants Dora and Paul to start searching again, but Eszter also knows that Paul's heart has been broken again. It will take the man some time until it is healed enough for him to return to any sort of mystery. The pain of losing first Eszter and then Helen must gnaw at his innards.

Eszter wonders if Paul could understand why she chose this, but eventually she decides it doesn't matter. She made her choice, and now she lives with it. Regret is wasted on someone like her.

She knows she belongs here just like Dora belongs in the world outside at least for now. Maybe one day she will be drawn back, but there is time. There is nothing but time for those in the library.

* * *

Another one of those old towns of Europe, another meeting Eszter declines from attending. Instead, she heads to where she always feels the most comfortable: a library. The closest one belongs to a university, and she steps in without thinking twice about the fact that this is the city where Dora studies and that she may run across the woman here.

Eszter is browsing the shelves for new interesting tomes when she notices someone moving in the corner of her eye. She swirls around and comes face to face with Dora.

There is a tense moment of silence. Eszter babbles something out of sheer panic. Dora stares at her like she is a ghost, an apparition from her worst nightmares, and Eszter realises with a jolt that she really is a reminder of the life Dora has tried to desperately escape for years.

Eszter makes a tactical retreat when she feels Vlad's presence nearby calling out for her. She is careful not to step too close to Dora, aware that the girl must have one of those golden crosses hidden against her neck.

Outside, it is snowing. Vlad takes hold of her waist and senses something. He glances back at the library.

"So, you saw her," he says, not particularly interested in the young woman who must be standing in a window. They start walking.

"She surprised me," Eszter admits. Vlad gives her a questioning look.

"You should have better senses by now," he chastises her. Eszter sighs.

"I know," she murmurs. "I just got lost in my thoughts. There were such interesting books there."

He does not chuckle, but Eszter knows the man is amused by her antics once again. He keeps his hold on her as Eszter starts telling him about the tomes she saw that may interest him, always listening so carefully to her.

Eszter hopes that at least buys Dora a little time to leave the library and flee somewhere where she will be safe, if Vlad does change his mind, but he does not leave her. Instead, they return to the railway station as they had planned and board a train back towards Eszter's own library and home.

In the train, the man studies her face as she studies the newest additions to his collection. Neither says anything at all.

* * *

The next chapter in her life comes when they try and teach her how to be a proper creature of the night. They have all left the library for a trip to Munich of all the places, and are walking among the masses of people. It is October, and there is more beer around than Eszter has seen in her entire life. It certainly is an experience.

"See him?" Matteo points at a man who is so drunk he is swinging wildly on his feet. He seems to imagine he is trying to walk on the deck of a ship in the middle of a hurricane since he sways from one side of the street to the other.

"Yes. What about him?" Eszter questions.

"You'd think he'd make a good dinner, but unfortunately, that amount of alcohol tastes quite horrible," Matteo murmurs. "I cannot say I'd recommend having someone like him. No, you'll want to look for someone who is much less wasted."

"And don't even think about drinking from someone who is drugged up," Florence shakes her head. "That only leads to very, very bad experiences all around, and messes Vlad will never let you forget."

"You go get someone to drink for yourselves," Vlad tells Florence and Matteo. "I think I know how Eszter should hunt."

Florence and Matteo glance at each other, then shrug. They leave in opposite directions.

Vlad and Eszter walk for a moment longer. Eszter keeps studying the people.

"Do you see anyone who seems to be browsing the crowds as we do?" Vlad murmurs almost into her ear. Eszter glances around.

"There is a man by that statue," she murmurs quietly and lets her eyes pass over him again. Vlad gently steers her to look at him and then kisses her softly.

"Go to the alley past him," he murmurs against the kiss. "He will follow you."

Eszter frowns a little, but does as he says. Their hands separate. Vlad is a steady presence behind her, though he walks off to the side. Eszter heads towards the alley he told her to go into, and the man she noticed looks at her as she passes.

He starts following her.

The lights of the street don't quite reach there. Eszter's cane clicks against the stones as she walks on, listening to the man's steps. He is catching up on her. He probably thinks she will be an easy one. Eszter can feel the hair in her neck standing up on end. All her senses come to life. Her mouth cannot wait for the taste of blood, and she gets ready.

Her cane clatters to the ground as she turns around and reacts automatically. The man is already closer than she thought, but Vlad grabs him easily by the throat and pulls him into the shadows. The man is struggling against Vlad's strength. Eszter follows them, limping a little.

"Drink from him, Eszter," Vlad murmurs to her. Eszter reaches up and wraps her hands around the struggling man. Vlad covers his mouth with his hand and lets go off his neck. Eszter is ready. Her teeth pierce the thin skin of the neck. Her eyes close in bliss.

She is only vaguely aware that Vlad is drinking from the man as well at the same time. His movements get weak, and eventually he seems to lose consciousness. Eszter pulls her mouth off him. Vlad is still holding onto the man, but he lets him crumble on the ground before grasping at Eszter and pulling her into a tight, passionate, filthy kiss. He tastes of blood, and his hands aren't idle but reach for Eszter's aching body. She is pushed against the wall as the man starts to ravage her.

"Vlad," Eszter manages to barely gasp. "Not with him here."

He looks at her blankly. His mouth is red with the man's blood. Their meal is still alive, laying in their feet. Eszter grasps Vlad.

"Somewhere more secure," Eszter barely manages to murmur. She still wants Vlad's hands back on her body. He has a small, understanding smile on his lips, a teasing smile that promises her all kinds of things.

"Of course," he murmurs and then holds her body tightly.

The city is all around them. Eszter doesn't know where he takes her, but it is quieter there. He doesn't give her the time to look at her surroundings as he pulls her into his arms and has her against a wall, harsh and demanding and still tasting of the man's blood.

Eszter licks it off his lips and shivers a little in his embrace. She feels almost drunk herself.

"I'm starting to understand why you like hunting," she murmurs softly when she has her words again. Vlad chuckles and helps fix up her clothes. She wipes the last traces of lipstick off his face and then kisses him again.

"You will never be one to run your prey down, but I think seducing them will work quite nicely," he murmurs. He still seems to want to have Eszter's body, but the worst of the need is now gone. They can wait for a moment longer.

"Aren't you supposed to tell me how I would take the easy road by only hurting rapists and muggers?" Eszter murmurs and studies his face. Vlad shakes his head.

"I think I am intelligent enough to understand the limitations of your body and jealous enough for other types of seduction," he tells her.

Eszter swallows heavily.

" _Oh_."

Vlad laughs and pulls her back into the reach of light. Her cane lies forgotten somewhere in the streets of Munich. Vlad holds her hand and makes sure she doesn't stumble.

When they meet Matteo and Florence again, Florence sighs and pinches her nose. Matteo chuckles.

"I told you," Matteo murmurs. Eszter self-consciously fixes her clothing although it is too late.

"You were no better yourself," Vlad notes and then lets his fingers trace Matteo's face. Matteo freezes. "And you certainly are tense as well right now. You'd like someone who would have you, wouldn't you?"

Eszter chuckles a little at Matteo's petulant look.

She still doesn't learn to be a proper creature of the night, preferring to drink from those who are willing or from Vlad himself, but she does learn of the thrill of the hunt that night.

* * *

When Paul dies, Eszter doesn't even have to ask whether Vlad will allow her to send flowers for the funeral. Instead, the man tells her to grab her travel bag, and soon enough, they are on a train to Amsterdam. Eszter keeps glancing out the window. The scenery is the same as all those years ago when she covered this leg of the journey with Dora, but now she has Vlad with her.

It takes a day to get to the city. Vlad looks at her in the railway station.

"You have this night," he tells her. "Do with it whatever you want. I will see you here for the morning train back home."

Eszter nods her head seriously and then heads into the city.

The house is still where she remembers it. The channel outside is the same. Not much has changed during all these years.

Eszter sees a light in one of the windows. She can sense the sorrow radiating from the house, and without thinking about it for another second, she tries the door. It is unlocked.

She can hear the sobs even while still downstairs. Eszter sighs and then heads into Paul's office. His things are spread around as if he always meant to come back. He died unexpectedly. Dora is upstairs crying, an orphan in a wide and cruel world.

Eszter cleans up Paul's papers and sets them into neat stacks. She doesn't take anything, just makes the room a little easier to look at. At some point, there are no more sobs.

Eszter moves around the quiet house and helps with the housework that has been forgotten. She does the dishes, cleans up here and there, throws away the spoiled food in the fridge. By the time she heads to the second floor, the downstairs looks a little less like a warzone.

Paul's room is the same ascetic chamber Eszter remembers it as. She steps in quietly and looks around. She glances at the picture of Paul and Helen that is on the nightstand, and then she moves on. There isn't as much to take care of. Eszter simply straightens things around.

Dora's room holds the exhausted woman who is lying face down on the bed. Eszter sits next to her and runs fingers through her friend's hair. Dora sniffles in her sleep, but does not wake up.

Eszter starts humming a lullaby familiar from her own childhood and hopes that will be enough to ease Dora's sleep this night. She sits there for hours, just running her fingers through Dora's hair and humming all the songs and lullabies she knows, and eventually, she goes quiet.

"He wasn't supposed to die," Dora whispers.

"I know," Eszter tells her friend. "You'll get used to the pain one day, but that does not mean that it won't hurt."

Dora's shoulders shake and she hugs her pillow tightly. Eszter gets up.

"I have to go now," she tells Dora, a little uncertain. Dora doesn't turn around, doesn't look at her.

"Why did you even come?" Dora sobs. Eszter can feel her heart breaking.

"You are still my friend, Dora," Eszter says. Dora starts turning around, but then she stops. Eszter knows that she must believe this all to be a dream, or then it may be fear. Dora might tell herself that nothing can hurt her now if she can't see it.

"Take care of yourself, Dora," Eszter murmurs. "Take care of yourself even though it will be the hardest thing you will ever do."

Dora sniffles but doesn't answer.

Downstairs, Eszter returns to Paul's office. She sits behind his desk and grabs a pen from his table. She writes a short message to her friend. Dora will find it eventually when she finally has the strength to face this room.

 _You will live through this, no matter how hard it is_. _You have survived worse sorrows without losing hope. -E_

Vlad is waiting for her at the railway station. He looks at Eszter and then helps her back into the train.

He does not ask, and Eszter does not tell, but she still sends flowers to Paul's grave each year on the day she left Amsterdam. Dora knows the significance of that.

* * *

The years pass. The new millennium arrives, and Eszter feels a little odd watching the fireworks distant in the valleys around. This is just another night in her life, just another passing year, yet somehow, she feels a little different.

Whenever she looks at the mirror, the same face meets her eyes. There are no wrinkles. Her skin remains soft as it was when she was still young with her human life. The years come and fashions change. The clothes she wears are different now, Vlad insisting they keep up with the times, but she is still the same.

She stares at her image in the mirror when Vlad comes to find her.

"Why are you studying yourself?" he asks. Their eyes meet in the reflection.

"Do you ever expect to see yourself as older?" Eszter asks the man. He comes to her. Her back is flush against his front. They look at each other in the mirror. Vlad studies her face like that, the subtle differences that he can see.

"On occasion," he admits. Eszter closes her eyes in relief.

"I thought I was going mad," she murmurs. "It feels weird, looking this young and being this old."

"You're not that old yet," Vlad reminds her, "barely older than I was when I died."

That much is true, Eszter supposes. She has almost been dead longer than she ever was alive. There is something oddly intimate about the thought that Vlad has known her for such a long time and has shared so much with her even though she is a fleeting chapter in his life.

"I just still keep expecting to get wrinkles, I guess," Eszter murmurs. Vlad pulls her up lightly and turns her around so that they are close to one another. He studies her face again, touches it with the fingers that time has worn smooth. Eszter studies his face. He hasn't changed either, not that much. The face is still the same even if he has cut his hair a little shorter to fit in better with the time. The eyes still have the same clever spark, the mouth still often turned into a frown. He is the same, but not like he was when Eszter first arrived in the library. She wonders if she just was too blinded by hear own thoughts to see the man as he truly is or if the change is real and tangible.

"You'll get used to it," he tells. "You'll get used to it just like you got used to no longer eating or sleeping in the sarcophagus or being able to walk again. You suit this life, Eszter. I have no doubt you have a long future ahead of yourself."

Eszter lowers her eyes and frowns a little.

"That's the second issue," she admits. "I don't know if I can understand the length of eternity."

Vlad chuckles.

"I doubt anyone can," he says. His fingers rest on her lips for a moment. Vlad kisses Eszter.

"You have a long life ahead, Eszter," he tells her. Eszter buries her face in his neck and lets her buzzing thoughts fade away for a moment.

"I know," she murmurs and tries to forget her fears.

* * *

"Vlad?"

The man is in no hurry to answer her immediately. Instead, he opts for finishing the page and then marking where he was before laying down the book. Eszter sits down next to him and stares at his hands.

"I was thinking about the future of the library," she tells him. Eszter takes in a calming breath even though she rationally knows breathing makes no difference when she's been dead for such a long time. "I would like to digitise parts of the collection."

He is quiet for a moment, then gently puts his hand on her chin and turns her to face him properly. He studies her eyes, looks for something in them.

"And why would you do that?" he asks her. Eszter lets out that breath she took in just a few moments earlier. He can feel the slight breeze on his skin.

"I know you're fond of the archival cards, but it would be easier to keep things up to date, not to mention easier to browse. As for digitising the collection, some libraries have already photographed their rarest works. I would like for other people to appreciate these works as much as I do."

Vlad is quiet for a long moment as he certainly seems to think thoroughly on the matter. Eszter waits patiently for an answer.

"Is this your newest anxiety?" Vlad asks and studies her very carefully for a moment. Eszter sighs a little.

"Probably, yes. I keep thinking about how vulnerable this collection is. If something happened to us, all this would be gone, lost forever. There are so many books that only exist here and nowhere else. If they were digitised, at least then someone else could still enjoy them even if the physical copies were ruined."

Vlad takes hold of her hand and raises it to his lips.

"That may also risk the safety of this collection," he reminds her. "Some of these books have survived only because they have been kept secrets."

Eszter nods quietly. She is more than aware of that fact.

"The times are changing," she says. "There are now vast collections online. We could only take photocopies of the pages and leave the files for someone to work with. There wouldn't be even much need for transcribing anything, not by our own hand, though even that could be an advantage."

"You hate books getting lost because of carelessness," Vlad notes. The air stemming from his lungs tickles her hand a little. "I guess I should have expected this sooner."

Eszter turns and looks at the man carefully. There is fondness in his eyes, familiar fondness after so many years, but also permission. He will allow her to take care of the library in a manner that he could have not even imagined years ago.

"It will be quite the undertaking, redoing the system again and digitising the books," Vlad notes. "Are you sure this idea had nothing to do with trying to keep Florence and Matteo here even though they have barely had anything to do for years now?"

Eszter smiles a little. Trust Vlad to see through some of her reasons.

"It certainly has," she says, "but I also want to share the most in-depth collection in the entire world, even though you will still not accept my sci-fi novels on your shelves."

Vlad closes his eyes and pinches his nose.

"Over my dead corpse," he mutters. Eszter brightens up and kisses his cheek. He grabs a tight hold of her before she can slip away. "I did not mean it like that, dear Eszter," he murmurs, though there is no true anger. Eszter laughs and kisses his lips.

"One day," she promises him. His eyes light up from the challenge.

"I would love to see you try," he drawls and then kisses her.

There is little work done after that.

* * *

It takes some years to get their archive up and running, and even longer to publish the first scans and transcripts. It doesn't take long after that, however, to be suddenly known as a distributor of quality books that have been nearly forgotten.

There are those who doubt their work. Some claim their texts are only elaborate counterfeits, but then again, there are also those who believe that all they are aiming for is some sort of an elaborate hoax. Then there are those who believe this is only a sample that will be let out before they start charging money for their services. Most, however, are glad to have the books at their disposal.

Eszter pays no attention to the doubters. She simply keeps adding more works to the database and then slowly, very slowly, she starts writing additional commentaries to the books they publish. She sometimes notes the years of acquisition or how the book became a part of the collection, and sometimes she writes about the restoration work they have done.

There are questions, quite a few of them after that point. Sometimes Eszter writes an answer, sometimes she doesn't bother, but eventually she creates an actual FAQ because she gets bored with the same questions.

She is only known as the main librarian. Matteo and Florence are known by their initials, but Eszter doesn't tell even that much about herself. She knows Vlad wants to protect this collection. There are risks of being too open about where they are or how their library is run. She simply calls it a private collection that has been carefully curated throughout the years. She simply calls herself a booklover with much time in her hands who has trained under her masters of restoration. She simply becomes known as a fighter for the rare and the forgotten, as a monument of standing against the teeth of time and limitations created by other libraries.

This is a collection that she is careful about, a collection she offers willingly, a collection she loves with all her heart.

Vlad is reading the comment she has written about a very particular book. There is a glint of amusement in his eyes.

"There was a slight mishap in the 1970's when a bottle of ink fell over this book," he drawls out. "The unfortunate soul had an unfortunate workplace incident and was permanently banned from the library."

"It's not actually a lie," Eszter says and checks that the other details are correct.

"After months of restoration, another copy was tracked down, though it is slightly newer and has some differences as it is a later edition. The librarian prefers the original, but has provided scans of both for your entertainment," Vlad reads back her words to her. Eszter hums. "I didn't know you liked that book. I thought you felt it to be much too violent."

"I didn't say I like it, I said I prefer the original printing," Eszter says. Vlad chuckles.

"By all means then," he spreads out his hands before wrapping them around Eszter.

It is a book Eszter doesn't think about for quite some time. She sometimes goes months without answering any questions, simply stunted by the amount that is diverted to them on a regular basis, but one day, Florence catches her attention.

"I think you'll want to read this," Florence says before planting a laptop in front of Eszter. The red-headed woman looks at where Florence is pointing on the screen and stops for a moment.

_Dear friend, is this the book you once told us about while in A? If so, that is quite the way with words you have had in trying to make that incident sound much more civil than it ended up being. D_

"Well look at that," Eszter murmurs with a small smile. "Someone's been following our work."

When she investigates the matter, there are more messages Dora has left. Sometimes she simply thanks Eszter for letting everyone see the books that time has forgotten about, sometimes she notes on a private joke, sometimes there are questions. Eszter looks at those messages with a hint of longing.

Vlad sees her reading them one night and catches a glimpse over her shoulder.

"Do you think it's time to give her one of your books?" Eszter asks as she looks up at him. Vlad nods his head.

"Yes, I do believe so," he murmurs with a slight pleased tone to his voice.

And so, one day when Dora least expects it, one of Vlad's vassals leaves her a book with a dragon curled up in the middle. It is just like all those other books that have been distributed throughout the years, but there is a slight difference. In Dora's book, there is a short message in the back written in Hungarian in Eszter's tiny, curled letters.

_We're ready for you whenever you are ready to return._


End file.
